Travel Books

This is a good light read. It never did say why Archer came to the different time period however I would still recommend this for fun. This book isn't extremely exciting but good enough to keep your interest.

Kevin is a young boy, Korean-American, who is just following his normal routine of doing his homework--his boring, irrelevant history homework--when history comes to visit him in a quite unlikely way. His baseball hat is quite literally lifted off his head by an arrow of a strange visitor who insists that he just fell off a tiger's back. Unsure whether to call 911 or assume it's a bizarre dream, Kevin goes along with the odd man's requests. As he begins to explain modern life--glass windows break when you try to shoot arrows through them--he determines that the only way to make his life return to normal is to figure out WHO this guy is and WHY he's suddenly in his room. This leads him to do research both online and in person.

The 'quest' is to find a way to send him back to his proper time. The solution--critical thinking skills, communication, math, and cultural research.

While ARCHER'S QUEST is not my favorite Linda Sue Park novel. I think this modern-fantasy tale may prove interesting to some young readers.

I just cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with Linda Sue Park. Some authors write books that are spot-on gold all the time. Others can't churn out a decent title no matter how hard they try. Then there's Linda Sue Park. Garnering a coveted Newbery award early in her career, Park has had the unenviable job of showing the world that she remains worthy of that honor with every subsequent book she writes. I liked "A Single Shard", but somewhere in the back of my brain was the niggling suspicion that since I'm twenty-seven-years-old my response probably would have been different had I been a ten-year-old who had to read it in school. Ditto my response to "The Mulberry Project", in which silkworms, rather than pottery, were the name of the game. As if hearing my silent plea, Park has now come out with the far more kid friendly (but still darned informative) "Archer's Quest". The set-up is good, the story interesting, and the book a short sweet ride. You'd think I'd be in seventh heaven. Instead, I'm torn. On the one hand, it's difficult to criticize an author who takes as much time and attention as Ms. Park does with her work. On the other hand, something about "Archer's Quest" failed to grab me right from the get-go. Maybe it's the fact that Park has written a story found in so many other children's books. Maybe it's the low-key action. Whatever the case, "Archer's Quest" makes for a mighty fine read. It just didn't have that extra little oomph it needed to make it beloved.

You think your day's been crummy? You've got nothing on Kevin. Sure, today was a half-day at school, but is he able to appreciate it? Not a chance. The year is 1999 and Kevin is bored out of his skull with only a bouncy ball to keep him company. Next thing you know Kevin's cap is hanging from an arrow sticking straight out of the wall. The arrow, in turn, belongs to a very oddly dressed man who is eyeing Kevin suspiciously and has his next arrow aimed at the boy in question. Turns out that the man is the great Korean historical figure Koh Chu-mong. Part Robin Hood part King Arthur, Chu-mong has somehow landed smack dab in Archie's bedroom some 2,054 years into the future. Kevin, may be of Korean descent, but he doesn't sufficiently know his Korean history to know enough about Chu-mong (who requests that he be called Archer, shortened by Kevin to "Archie") to help him back to his own time. Together the two must discover everything they can about Korean history, magic, the Chinese Zodiac, and some basic math before the year of the Tiger is up. And the year ends that very night!

In a way, "Archer's Quest" is a historical novel. Sure it takes place in 1999, but that still places it firmly in the past. Park starts with a particularly interesting situation. You're in your bedroom, bored, and suddenly a hero from the past is looking to put an arrow in your heart. A great start, but a difficult one. Since the story must take place in the course of a single day, and since Kevin is such a realistic character that Park's afraid to ever put him into too much trouble, the story's action is downplayed. The most we get is an encounter with a real tiger, a race from a negligible enemy, and a run across a highway when the traffic has already been stopped. Her "villain" isn't even that villainous. Just misguided. Of course, limiting the action is Park's style. Therefore, if you've a kid who really got into "A Single Shard" or (more logically) "Project Mulberry", they are bound to enjoy this story just as much, if not more.

The concept of a historical or fictional figure bumming around the present isn't new, of course. Everything from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" to "Inkheart" has used it to their advantage. Where Park diverges from the ordinary is in making her hero a Korean folk-hero. Kids who've never had the opportunity to learn of the adventures of Chu-mong will find much to learn about here. In this way, the book pairs nicely with another recent historical-man-to-whom-folk-tales-have-been-attached character, Dick Whittington, in Alan Armstrong's, "Whittington".

Ever attentive to supporting her stories with fact, Park includes a section on math in this story, while another attends to details involving Chu-mong, tigers, and RIT, and a bit on the zodiac. A Chinese Zodiac is located at the end of the book, and here I had a real problem with the book. Some children's books that discuss the Zodiac do what "Archer's Quest" did here and include each year with the dates ascribed to that year. For example, "The Rooster's Antlers: A Story of the Chinese Zodiac" by Eric A. Kimmel, includes a bunch of dates that fall within different animal years. The book is useful because these dates go a decade or two into the future. "Archer's Quest" on the other hand, stops at February 4, 2000. That's all well and good if the kiddies want to know what animal is ascribed to the year of their birth, but does absolutely no good if they want to know what the current year in the zodiac is. Obviously it stops around 1999 because that's when the story takes place. However, it would be heads and tales more interesting if it bothered to go a little bit into the future. Even if it were just a decade.

None of this is to say that the book doesn't make for a good read. Linda Sue Park is first and foremost a premier children's book author and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I just wish that this book had gotten a little more work done on it. It reads beautifully and will give a lot of enjoyment to some kids with the whole time-travel aspect. For others it will start out well, then peter off into the dull. A nice title but not my favorite Park accomplishment.

This is a fairly bland tourist guide to Israel. Don't expect it to lead you anywhere that the Israel tourist information map won't. It'll give you telephone numbers for the sheratons, but not much off the beaten track. There are some big gaps, including almost no mention of the elephant in the room: ie the Palestinian territories, and their ongoing occupation. Travel into the West Bank is pretty much dismissed in a sentence. Israel & the Palestinian territories are a unique place, but if you follow this guide you'll probably come back none the wiser.

Just back from 3 weeks in Israel and even though I was born there - this guide made it much easier to come back after 20 years. We used the guide in planing and reservations and were not disappointed with what we encountered. The Fodor's recommendations were right on the money and one of the books writers was our guide for a few days in Jerusalem - and even I (who lived there in the past) discovered a new aspects of it!
We are very pleased with the guide and will keep using it for future trips around the globe!

I was grateful that Fodor's was the first of the major guides to release an update on Israel after the tourist drought of the early 2000s. The book has strong points and weak points. The description of sites, the history, and the information given on each attraction is very solid. But when it comes to choosing hotels and restaurants, information that I count on a good guidebook to provide, Fodor's Israel fails badly. Even in major cities, only a small number of options are offered, and I was stunned to see major, important options omitted altogether. All in all, this guidebook would not be very helpful if I did not already know Israel. And of course, it is written for people who are not knowledgeable.

Those folks could do far better with the updated Frommer's Israel that came out a few months later. This book isn't bad -- just not good enough.

I spent a month in Israel recently. This Fodor's guide was the one I used of the ones I brought with me (including Fromer's, & Lonely Planet).

NOTE: "Fodor's Explorer" is the supplemental guide to this one. I've seen the two mixed up.

For organization it was the only one I could easily get acclimated to for each region. Fromer's was consistently more confusing. Lonely Planet didn't include even the basic attractions (1 -2 for every 5-6 in the other books.) In addition to organization, Fodor's attraction descriptions gave enough details to decide what was of interest, and also to make the arrangements to get there.

For restaurants both Fodor's and Fromer's had similar listings. I only tried a few, but their lists matched the one's recommended by the various hotels I stayed at. I was staying with people, and had my own hotel recommendations so I didn't use the hotel sections.

Unlike the other's, Fodor's Israel didn't spend much time on politics making it a genuine guide. It included substantial info on sites of Christian interest. I had no problem finding Massada and Dead Sea in the book, and wouldn't have missed them accidently. (There's so much in Jerusalem, that the guide uses a whole day trip section.)

Politically by contrast, Fromer's relegated it to a section in the back abet with some strange statements. Lonely Planet was one long "pro-Palestinian" sell, and not a tour book. I put "pro-Palestinian" in quotes because their facts were as erroneous there as they were for the various attraction descriptions. I had plans to go into the terroritories, and wound up borrowing an internet connection instead to figure things out.

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A note of caution, time is fluid in Israel. As one Israeli told me, "BUT in the mall, time is time." Check open hours for everything before heading to it. The guidebook's hours didn't match the museums, but neither did the sheets from the tourist offices! Then there was the confusion of hours during Purim (a holiday).

In general, compared to other travel areas, things are NOT just a few generated museums in a downtown area plus a few quaint areas to walk around. Everywhere you turn there's something, and it's all over the place. What Israeli's consider easy walking distance is 15-20 minutes and in Jerusalem that usually includes hills. Therefore, it's very helpful to do research in advance here. (For instance, the old city in Jerusalem looks small on maps, but it takes 15-20 minutes to get from the Western Wall back up to the entrance, especially if you don't know the most direct route and it's uphill in that direction.)

Roads are well marked but entrances to attractions aren't always, so do tear out the pages or bring a list with you to point to when you ask people, including addresses. The tourist office sheets have Hebrew versions, as well as English, and it helps to have. Israelis try to be very helpful, but they don't always figure out what you're asking about.

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More about Fodor's -- I joined a standard style tour bus group for 5 days. I repeatedly heard from several people, that they'd read in the book last night essentially what our guide had said about the same attraction we'd just gone to the day before. A private guide can help a lot and add much more, but it was nice to see that the tour book covered the basics so well.

So if you are traveling to the area, have a good time!!

A good resource for visiting Israel. Good advice on sample itineraies and places to stay and eat.

It's got the bare essential data you need for the hike.
Mileage, water sources, post offices, grocery stores, etc.
Don't leave your domicile without it.

I can't think of anything this guide has left out. It provides not only thorough trail descriptions and maps for each segment that are detailed and clear, but also a history of the trail, both natural and historic, advice on planning your trip, and a complete list of agencies to contact for trail permits. I appreciate the details regarding flora and fauna, as well as advice from everything to supply stations to how to deal with bears. I don't believe that I have ever seen a more thorough and complete trail guide.

Sadly, this is a book that falls victim to misleading advertising. The title and book description would lead one to assume this to be a travel memoir about our hero's experiences trying to get a chain of British tea rooms off the ground in France.
If you buy, or as I (fortunately) did, borrow the book from your library it won't take you long to come to the conclusion that in an attempt to make the book saleable and "real" the thing is written less as a travel memoir and more as a sexual misadventure. For, in truth the main recurring theme of this book is the narrator's failed attempts to bed women...any women...women he barely knows and for whom he doesn't care.

Now that's fine and I'm sure the hero of A Year In The Merde is not the first, nor will he be the last fella to go to France with getting laid as his main goal in life.

This goal is, however, not universally endearing, and is in fact quite off putting for a large number of the reading public...like the female reading public---quite a lot of those out there actually.

His constant attempts to prey upon people for sex are not endearing, not charming, and worst of all...not entertaining.
Last time I looked guys in their teens and early twenties weren't the major audience stampeding to buy stories about life for expats living in France.
Yes, there are insights into the French, but they are incidental and largely overshadowed by nearly continuous comments about women and their undergarments, lack of undergarments, attractiveness, and willingness to bed the narrator.
Casting a humorous light on the French people or the French culture is secondary.
Since my interest in France is NOT primarily focused on scoring with chicks...I was disappointed. Depending upon your interest, your mileage may vary.

Not a page turner by any means, but laugh out loud funny! I really enjoyed this book, took my time reading it, and am rather sad it's over... :)

A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke is an uproarious roman à clef following a year in the life of Clarke's alter ego, Paul West. Paul West is a Brit who has been transplanted to the City of Light to help a French businessman open English tea shops throughout Paris. Paul's struggles to understand and master all things French, including the French work ethic of his colleagues (which places more importance on vacation planning than on anything truly work related); the confusing manner in which the real estate market operates; and the most perplexing thing about France - French women, will have you laughing throughout the entire book.

Besides being a humorous account of French assimilation, A Year in the Merde is also an insightful look at how the French view British and American citizens. Clarke is especially discerning when recounting the start of the American led Iraq war.

As the inside flap of the book says, "This book is for everyone who can never quite decide whether they love - or love to hate - the French".

I love every one of Stephen Clarke's books. I have never laughed so hard reading. Looking forward to getting his newest. I wish these books would also go to the big screen. Hugh Grant?

This is loads of fun, I'll grant you. I happen to love British wit, so what could beat an English author griping about his time among the frogs? The French do not come off well. Curiously, I had never seen this side of them. Clarke essentially captures a petty, almost tribal narrowness which I had never before associated with the French, but rings absolutely right. Especially when the French girlfriend calls things off over politics - this is so American radicals of the 60s, and it is totally believable as a French pose of self-importance. The nonsense over the tea shops is silly but very revealing, too. Anyway, the memoir is amusing if finally a bit tiresome. Actually, the entire premise of his stay seemed weird and somehow bogus. The graphic romance seems a little adolescent to me - maybe the author has something to prove. Although the French gals do come across as totally lacking in Anglo-American primness. His shock is fun, but so is his unabashed joy in finding such easy women. This is a real case of so close but so far. Highly recommended.

This book is a lyrical reflection on the oneness of nature and mankind's troubled relationship with it. It is recommended for anyone contemplating a journey to the higher latitudes. However, as a history of arctic exploration it is sadly flawed. The two chapters on early journeys of discovery and the quest for the northwest passage are chronologically jumbled. Furthermore, the inexplicable and virtually complete neglect of Amundson - including his learning from Eskimos - leaves one wondering what other omissions may have tilted the balance of Lopez's otherwise thought-provoking writing.

I bought this book while in the tourist center at McKinley National Park in Alaska because of the chapter on Polar Bears (someone at the desk recommended it to me). I have found this book to be amazing. This is one of the most rewarding books I've ever read. It's one of very few books that I'll read more than once.
Lopez's writing creates a desire to know more, to research more, and to experience the arctic for oneself. Reading Arctic Dreams is like going on a journey to the Arctic in an airplane, equipped with a microscope, where in general you get a broad picture, but on certain topics (narwhals, polar bears, etc) you have a living speciman to study. And the writing is never mundane. It reads as a narration, as though you were sitting around a campfire while Lopez talks of the arctic. There are enough facts to educate without being a burden, and enough of Lopez's voice to carry the imagination to remote arctic islands, or on an early expedition, or simply to a prarie to watch the arctic fox. And when a question arises about something in particular, Lopez address it, answering both the scientific and the introspective questions at the same time.
Arctic Dreams is a masterpiece that will educate the mind and the heart. I couldn't recommend it enough.

Arctic Dreams is the most extraordinary book I've ever read. Lopez not only has the insights that make the Arctic come alive, but he expresses those insights in the most elegant prose. Arctic Dreams was published 20 years ago, and while the science needs updating (an Arctic scientist recently shared with me), the rest of the book is timeless. Who knew there were so many kinds of ice? Not only does the author describe the "land", but he describes the culture of the people whose lives are intertwined with the land, as well as the influences and politics that have changed their way of life forever. He explores the language needs of the people who work to survive in their often harsh environment. Those languages are primarily verb rich as opposed to English which is noun based. It took me a long time to read the whole book because often I would stop to ponder something I had just read. I have bought at least 20 copies over the years to give to friends and relatives. I still return to the book to reread passages or favorite chapters. Anyone interested in the Arctic would love this book. I would guess that someone with patience but not interested in the Arctic would become fascinated by the challenge to experience the Arctic in ways never imagined. B. Vesper 11/07

I would, sincerely, rather scrape linoleum tile off of a concrete slab than read any more Barry Lopez.

This arctic study goes under the surface of the ice to bring out the subtleties in arctic life. You'll uncover mysteries without answers in this nonfiction work.

In comparison to the National Geographic Trail illustrated maps Tom Harrison Maps have more user features such as more trail mileage markers and they are slightly more detailed scale. I like the colors of the Natl Geo maps better though. I really like how he's broken his JMT maps into one day's worth of hiking so that you only need one sheet out at a time.
Note this map pack is centered on the JMT if you are looking for other hikes near the JMT or the connector trails to the various trailheads there is very little additional coverage. If you are actually hiking the JMT only they are excellent.

Tom creates the best maps around. I don't know he does it all by himself. I love having the UTM grid on each page. Each of the 13 pages has just the right amount of detail for my through hike. I think you would be foolish to do the JMT without these.

If you are planning on hiking the JMT, buy this! It is EXACTLY what you need and no more.

I've used the same set of Harrison's JMT maps a couple of times now, the first hike took 30 days and second took 18. They're durable, for sure. The scale (1:63,360) is appropriate for the set of 13 8.5"x11" maps - if you really, really hustle you can hike a map per day. The size means you don't have to unfold a huge sheet of paper each time you want to check where you are. The mileage between waypoints on the trail is clearly marked. The maps don't have the detail of 7.5-minute USGS maps but you wouldn't want that kind of detail for this hike. Harrison also has some larger maps, e.g., "Sequoia & King's Canyon Nat'l Parks" with a 1:125,000 scale but the size is inconvenient for the JMT hike. Conceivably you could scissor his larger maps to make a map of the trail but since he's already done the job about perfectly, why bother? (Incidentally the JMT runs between Mt. Whitney and Yosemite's Happy Isles, so being disappointed at not getting a Mexico-to-Canada map doesn't make very much sense.)

I purchased this Tom Harrison map set to thru-hike the JMT. At the same time I ordered the maps from the national park service. The T.H. maps are thin, tearproof, waterproof, lightweight and they pack down into a small size. The NPS maps are paper, they tear easily, they'd be damaged easily by water, and because they cover the 3 parks/national forests, rather than just the trail, they are about 10 times as large and heavier. When I go hiking later this year, the T.H. maps are coming with me. The NPS maps are staying at home.

Alex Kotlowitz's "There Are No Children Here" is rightly held up as one of the greatest works of journalistic nonfiction of the last twenty-five years. His "Never a City So Real," though, falls somewhat flat precisely because he tries to write an anecdotal series of re-creations of "Children."

This book is readable and even interesting, but fails at introducing its reader to much of Chicago as a city. It contains almost no history and focuses solely on poorer, fringe neighborhoods while neglecting many more central (and historically important) points of interest. An interesting diversion, but one that is too skewed by Kotlowitz's politics to serve as anything more than that.

Alex Kotlowicz mostly succeeds with this slice-of-life look at Chicago's grittier side. He begins by interviewing Ed Sadlowski, former steelworker and union official living on the southeast side where most of the mills have shuttered. Equally interesting was the view from Edna's restaurant in the west side ghetto where there are few businesses other than liquor stores. We also hear from an artist that paints murals for residents in public housing, a neighborhood of recent immigrants from many lands, a gadfly that fights corruption in the border suburb of Cicero (former headquarters of Al Capone), and several others. In many ways the author captures the city's feel, and allows readers to see how Chicago has evolved into a mostly post-industrial city, yet one where poverty and fear of minorities and violence remain touchstones for some.

Oddly the author, who moved here 20 years ago from New York City, alternates praise with suggestions that the most successful see Chicago as unlovely and leave. In reality, most stay put in middle-class neighborhoods (or suburbs), acknowledging the city's problems, but prideful of our vibrant economy, superb lakefront, museums, parks, skyline, and universities - Chicago leads the USA in Nobel Prize winners. Despite small flaws, this is a revealing, concise, readable book.

Sometimes a book is "fine". This is one such book. I'd recommend it, but not very very strongly.

This waste of ink, paper, and time isn't even useful as a doorstop. This book is not about Chicago, it is about the author's politics (which is communism disguised as liberalism.)

Early in the book, the author claims that the owners of Chicago steel companies got complacent and forgot how to compete. The fact of the matter is that meeting the demands of the unions priced the steel much higher than the units arriving from East Europe and Asia. This is the first of so many instances that the author proves he is uninformed. He is also inaccurate in geography, history, and one funny instance of a math goof.

Don't waste your time.

A Walk in Chicago: Never a City So Real
by Alex Kotlowitz
Crown Journeys, Crown: New York 2004 159 pp. Hardcover

The "Big Onion" is better than the "Big Apple" in many ways, and Alex Kotlowitz, a former New Yorker who has made Chicago his home for over twenty years, sets out to prove how great and diverse his adopted city really is. As he writes in his introduction, "Chicago is a place of passion and hustle...a place eternally in transition, always finding yet another way to think of itself, a city never satisfied."

But this is not the Chicago of the Art Institute, of Michigan Avenue, of Water Tower Place, or the Magnificent Mile. This is the Chicago of the South Side housing projects, the South East's closed steel mills, of Division Street and the 26th Street Criminal Court. It is the Chicago of the resilient and dedicated people who make their own neighborhoods places that come to life with positive energy and social change.

In Kotlowitz's book you meet "Oil Can Eddie," AKA, Ed Sadlowski, the retired steelworker who climbed the ranks of union leadership and "...who loves his city's opera, its museums, and its baseball teams..." You read about how this steelworker went from the steel furnace to the cover of Time Magazine, and how the union that he organized created a better life for its workers, and how that working life is now in peril. The 64-year old Sadlowski takes Kotlowitz on a city tour in his beat-up "Crown Vic" to places off the tourist map, places like Pinkerton's gravesite and the Calumet Riverfront where the strikers once clashed with police.

You get to lunch at Manny's Jewish Deli just south of the Loop, the hangout for political bosses and pit stop for every major politician who swings through Chicago. Then it's off to Edna's soul food restaurant with his two social worker friends, Millie and Brenda. As they sit down to eat, we get to overhear their conversation as if we were sitting in the next booth. This lets the reader eavesdrop on some of the problems that plague this city, from gangs in public housing to unwed teenage mothers. But in Kotlowitz's hands, the city is brought to life through the eyes of Millie and Brenda. And we get to meet Edna, sixty-six years old, who in the middle of taking lunch orders hears gunshots and runs out onto the street to shoo away the gang kids with her apron.

We meet Milton Reed, the lanky street artist who paints provocative murals for the residents of the projects, and we tag along while Milton sets up his sketch pad on the street corner so that he can sketch portraits of parade watchers as the Bud Billiken Parade winds its way through the city's South Side, a still racially divided part of Chicago.

Next we meet the embodiment of Sandburg's "City of Big Shoulders" in the form of a sturdily built six-foot female attorney, Andrea Lyon, who once while being attacked for her bag, punched her mugger so hard she broke his jaw. This imposing former public defender now works as a De Paul law professor and takes on some of the city's toughest criminal cases. It's a riveting account of the goings-on in this huge criminal beehive of a courthouse, and how Andrea heats up the proceedings.

And we also meet a painter who paints the derelicts and prostitutes on Division Street near Wicker Park, and who has sold his work for many thousands of dollars in Paris, but who remains unknown in his own city. Robert Guinan paints the side of the city that is fast becoming gentrified out of existence and we hear him lament that the city is trying to homogenize itself. Guinan takes us into his studio and down to the jazz clubs like the HotHouse and the Velvet Lounge where he has painted the famous Blues musicians that have made Chicago legendary.

We even go outside the city limits to Cicero, a suburb made infamous by Al Capone, to meet Dave Boyle, political gadfly and social activist, who runs a legal clinic for Cicero's disenfranchised. In Boyle's account, we learn how he foiled the town's corrupt politicians by exposing them to the truth of their actions when he tried to have illegal liquor licenses revoked.

And finally, near the end of our tour in the city's northwest side at GT's Diner, a diner taken over by an Albanian immigrant who hands out free coffee and food to the Mexican day laborers who congregate in the parking lot outside his business, we read how he grumbles about the ones who don't pay and who sit all day in his booths, but we also learn why he sympathizes because as a child in Albania he learned from his parents that you have to help others.

We read about how the city keeps changing in Kotlowitz's book as new immigrants arrive and change old neighborhoods, but we learn how much they add to the life of this great city. Wherever Kotlowitz takes us, we learn to love "his Chicago" and the very real people he introduces us to. These are the people that you would love to meet and sit down with in a bar to talk to for hours. Fortunately, Kotlowitz has done the sitting for us, taking it all down in this brilliant book.

I started the book with enthusiasm and debated whether I'd give it four or five stars. Finishing the last page, the question was whether to give it three or four. Now that I've had a couple of weeks' for digestion, it's with generousity I give it three. The book should be titled Walking the Bible - Lite. Feiler says he read a room of books in preparation for his trek. Maybe so, but what he passes along is superficial. The book has a great premise. Many of the people he meets along the way and their cultures are fascinating. But, he never gets below the surface. Feiler's breezy writing style is easy to read, but sometimes less is more. Not everything needs a simile. Comparing a jagged mountain range to the edge of his just opened tuna can? Yikes! Much of the book deals with Feiler's gee whiz moments of spiritual awakening, connecting to his roots. I'm sure for him the experiences were profound. For me they're neither profound nor interesting.

This is a dynamic journey that was a true hearted pleasure to read. Bruce Feiler reenacts and covers the terrain of Abraham, Noah, (Mt Ararat) Isaac and Jacob and brings these places back to life as in the time of the Torah. If you enjoy the Old Testament this book will not disappoint.

Feiler, Bruce. "Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses", Harper Perennial, 2001.

Taking Steps

Amos Lassen

"Walking the Bible" is a guide to the places mentioned in the Pentateuch and is written basically, as I can see it, from the Jewish perspective. Reading the book gives a new appreciation for the tales from the Torah. Feiler shows us how to walk where our ancestors walked. The book is absorbing as it informs and Feiler gives a new perspective on the Bible as he changed from an almost secular Jew to one who after exploration of the land became quite a believer. He seems to have found a path of understanding as well as a realization of the meaning of the holy books.
The book works on many levels. It is a travel guide first and foremost but it also looks at history and faith. Feiler adds scholarly interpretation as we "walk the Bible" and his guide, Avner Goren, has a great deal of information and knowledge of Biblical archeology.
Unfortunately, however, the writing style leaves a lot to be desired Feiler also has a knack for making a story longer than it needs to be. What is valuable is the amount of information in the book and there is even some interesting Torah commentary.

Back in my junior high and high school days, the standard way to do a book report focused on some very broad categories, particularly plot, characters, setting and theme. Of these, setting often gets the least attention, but it is often essential. Take the Bible, for instance, as Bruce Feiler does in his book Walking the Bible: the tales would be quite different if they had taken place in the relatively lush greenness of Great Britain instead of the semi-arid lands of the Fertile Crescent and Egypt.

Actually, despite the title, Feiler's book covers only one portion of the Bible, namely the Five Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch or Torah. Just as the Torah has five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, so is Walking the Bible divided into five "books", though Feiler's sections do not fully correspond to the Biblical ones.

The idea is to visit the sites that were recorded in these stories, starting with the location of Noah's Ark, then following the nomadic travels of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; we then go to Joseph leading his family to Egypt and Moses taking those descendants out generations later. Finally, after wandering the desert like the Israelites (though in far less time), Feiler ends his narrative at Mt. Nebo, where Moses's tale also ended.

Several key ideas are developed throughout Walking the Bible, chief of which is the importance of setting. As I stated earlier, these tales could not have taken place in a different climate. In particular, the scarceness of water would dictate where people would wind up and the types of lives they would lead (in particular, nomadic herding over agriculture). Another theme deals with the relationship of fact and legend; many of these sites can only be guessed at, and different traditions may place the same stories in different places. What prevails, however, is that belief often trumps fact, and just because archaeology proves or disproves something doesn't end the belief.

Informative and engagingly well-written, Walking the Bible is worth reading. Whether you think the Bible is myth, history, a crock or literal fact, it is undoubtedly the single most influential piece of literature ever. Therefore, whether you're an atheist or a fundamentalist (or like most people, somewhere in the broad middle), it is worth knowing about the Bible, and Walking the Bible provides the sort of insights that can appeal to that broad range of believers and non-believers.

I bought both the book and the video made for PBS. Bruce Feiler has made the first five books of the Bible come alive with his archelogical visits to every place referred to in those first 5 books. His companion, an authority on the digs and finds, gave credibility and deeper insight into important archelogical locations referred to in Biblical History. The trip inside Egypt was so wonderful. The companion photo book is wonderful with full page color pictures. I found reading the book was enlightening to the culture and lifestyle of that B.C,historical period. Easily a 5 star rating.

I'm a big fan of the time traveling books. I love Diana Gabaldon's books as well as the Highlander books from Moning so I'm always on the lookout for a new one. I had high hopes for this book because it sounded like it had some humor, some romance, pirates and time travel and how can that go wrong?
The plot is confusing at times and the idea of a writer that falls into her own unwritten story and therefore can't control it is just a bad idea. She supposedly created the characters but yet she hasn't, the main character is a guy from work that she's attracted to and the bad guy is her boss that she hates and the plot revolves around some documents that no one can find because the woman that "wrote" the story doesn't know anything about them. That isn't much of a story, even an unwritten one.
I feel like this book was published in the idea stage instead of waiting until it was completely formed.

While I love time travel stories this one is real confusing....one minute she is buying shoes the next she is back in 1706. One of the main characters Drumm is aware who she is....yet she doesn't have a clue who he is or why she is there when she is the one that created him or so they would have you believe...If you don't have alot of patience don't bother reading this book. I know some reviewers loved this book but for the life of me I can't figure out why or how come they kept reading it. I personally stopped because it has started to give me a headache.

Seph Pyle is at the Pittsburgh airport with co-worker Tom Fraser when a killer pair of pink stilettos catch her eye in a store window. What better way to fill time while waiting for their flight to be called. The fit, color, feel has never been better. She plunks down her credit card, snaps the last strap in place, and finds herself on board a ship in 1706. The captain is quick to explain her arrival. After all, this is Seph's doing. He is merely a character in her book and he wants spoilers.

I have to tell you, I loved this book. Yes, there are a few bumps but nothing unforgivable. The characters were likable, fun, and real. When I read the back cover and saw two love interests, I knew whose side I was on. Umm, no. Tom won me over. I loved that he didn't spend all of his time not believing her story. And his little test to see if she had traveled, this is a guy you want to have around.

The idea that an author ends up in her own unwritten story was a great hook, and I wished this could have been expanded on a little more. With that said, the book did not lack plot.

Can we talk cover art for a minute? I am not a fan of typical romance covers, but I like this one. I think it is because the artist got it right. The cover depicts the story. Even the shoe's details are there.

This is not a by-the-book romance or time travel story. YES! (Sorry. Reviewer commentary.) I enjoy both of these genres, but this book had me turning the page because I didn't know what to expect next. My fingers so itched to flip to the last few pages before I was finished. I resisted. :)

TUMBLING THROUGH TIME is a definite keeper and Gwyn Cready is an 'auto-buy' author.

CarolASpradling.com author

Gwyn Cready has created a remarkable story. I don't read romances a lot. In fact, I hardly read them ever. But this book isn't what I expected a romance to be like. It's very funny, for example. Like Bridget Jones's Diary or Janet Evanovich, maybe. The latter comparison is quite apt, actually, as the heroine, Seph, flips back and forth between two great guys, a la Ranger and Joe. I was surprised as I was reading that I didn't know which guy she would end up with. Made a page-turning read for me.

In addition, the plot is really unique. Seph is transported back in time to a setting that she has in mind for a book she'd like to write someday. And Drum, the privateer she meets, is supposed to be the hero of her story, but he isn't anything like she imagined.

I would recommend this book to romance and non-romance readers alike. It's funny and sexy and romantic and just a great story all around.

And I can't wait for her next book, Seducing Mr. Darcy, to come out. I'm a huge Mr. Darcy/Colin Firth fan. From the description, this is one I and about a million other women have been waiting for a long, long time!

Quite honestly, I was expecting more from this book considering the interesting synopsis I had read. It was enjoyable, yes, but the plot became too convoluted with all the intrigue and shifting between centuries. The descriptions of the tricks Tom and Drum just didn't make sense to me, someone who knows nothing about naval maneuvers. I loved Seph Pyle, but the relationships she had with both Tom and Drum seemed odd and there was a lot of emphasis on characters who really had no role in furthering the storyline. I guess some people would be happy that the ending wasn't tied in a neat little bow, but it left me saying, "Huh?" The whole mystery of the missing papers left me confused, having Seph be the author but completely lacking control of any of the occurances was weird, and while admittedly funny, I was left feeling unsatisfied. Overall it was enjoyable (well...the parts I understood) and I am hoping the author will redeem herself with Seducing Mr. Darcy later this year...she seems to have potential minus a few glitches.

These Delorme Atlas & Gazetters are wondeful. They show you many features not available through GPS, maps or other atlases. It is a great feature to have the BLM lands marked as well as the back roads. Good resources are also included in each states atlas. A good addition to anyone's travel tools.

When I received my copy of the Gazetteer I found 4 pages missing and 4 other pages duplicated. I ordered two other Gazetteers for Wyoming and Idaho at the same time and they were OK but since I discovered the problem while on our trip, the Gazetteer I purchased for Montana was effectively useless.

This atlas, like all the Delorme atlases of the states, shows in clear detail every possible feature of the areas: roads down to dirt paths, rivers and streams, railroads, and the contours and elevations of the land. Placenames are thoroughly listed, as are parks, campgrounds, and recreation sites for hunting, fishing, hiking, and biking. This is an excellent all-around reference work.

Overall, this wasnt quite what I was hoping for. It was less than extremely informative, though some parts I found helpful. My advice: look somewhere else.

They tried to squeeze too big of a state into too small of a book. Detail is not on par with other atlases in this series. Should have been divided into an east and west set.